BeerWise Podcast
The BeerWise Podcast, hosted by Mark DeNote, editor of Florida Beer News, delves into the dynamic world of craft beer, offering listeners a comprehensive look at industry trends, news, and in-depth interviews with key figures shaping the beer landscape.
Each episode explores the past, present, and future of brewing, providing insights into the evolution of beer styles, brewing techniques, and the stories behind renowned breweries. Whether you're a seasoned beer enthusiast or new to the craft beer scene, BeerWise serves as an engaging platform to expand your knowledge and appreciation for the art of brewing and craft beer culture.
BeerWise Podcast
Ep. 37: Kreis Holland of Tactical Brewing Talks Orlando Beer Week
Ever wondered how a small grassroots initiative can morph into a celebrated event? Discover the fascinating evolution of Orlando Beer Week as I chat with Chris Holland, the co-founder of Tactical Brewing. Chris brings his insider perspective on how the local brewing scene has burgeoned into a vibrant festival, thanks to the dedicated efforts of brewery owners and enthusiasts. Through our conversation, you'll uncover the collaborative spirit that has made this celebration a cornerstone event, transcending its humble beginnings and drawing attention from the broader central Florida region. You'll also witness the excitement and anticipation as we gear up for this year’s lineup of events that promise to captivate both local and visiting beer aficionados.
Prepare to be immersed in the bustling world of Orlando Beer Week, where creativity meets camaraderie. As the festivities unfold, from unique beer pairings to the ever-popular "Lord of the Wings" event, there's something for every taste. Get the scoop on the much-anticipated Mega Collab, featuring this year’s hazy IPA with an exciting twist of Florida honey and oranges. We also venture into the innovative realm of lagers, exploring how brewers like Rock Pit Brewing push boundaries with traditional and experimental brews. Join us as we navigate the challenges of staying ahead of market trends, and hear firsthand how brewers blend creativity with consumer demands in this dynamic industry.
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Hello and welcome back to the BeerWise podcast. This is the podcast that looks at what's going on in the world beer-wise. Hello and welcome back to the BeerWise podcast. I'm your host, mark Denote. I'm the editor of Florida Beer News.
Speaker 1:Orlando Beer Week has been growing and changing for the last five years and, while the Orlando brewing scene is one of the oldest and the youngest in the state, it's one that continues to undergo evolutions.
Speaker 1:This year, I was lucky enough to sit down with Chris Holland, one of the co-founders of Tactical Brewing, and talk about Orlando Beer Week, what people can expect, what's new and different and the festivals that anchor both sides of Orlando Beer Week. If you're new to Orlando Beer, orlando Beer Week is a celebration that is encouraged and organized to the best of their ability by several brewery owners within the city. There have been different iterations throughout the years, but the current iteration is about five years old and is probably the strongest that I have seen from Orlando. Chris was nice enough to sit down and talk about all things Orlando beer, orlando Beer Week and what a beer enthusiast can expect from this week of revelry and celebration of all things Orlando beer, orlando Beer Week and what a beer enthusiast can expect from this week of revelry and celebration of all things Orlando beer. Here's our conversation, all right. So, chris, thank you very much for joining me this episode of the Beer Wise podcast talking about Orlando Beer Week and what exciting things you have going on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, thanks for having me dude, I'm excited.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it looks like an awesome lineup this year. Can you talk a little bit about Orlando Beer Week and how it started and how it got to evolve to be where it is now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, man, it was one of those kind of organic things. I know you said you followed the Orlando beer scene for a little bit and I know Tampa down there has been killing it as far as a beer week goes and a lot of like major beer cities in the U? S usually have their own. So I've been in the industry for a pretty long time and I think like we've seen a lot of attempts at iterations of an Orlando beer week over the last like 10 to 15 years, but never nothing really ever stuck, which was unfortunate. So it was ourselves and a couple other breweries in the area. We got together and we were like, well, now let's just try to make it happen once you know we did like really small grassroots, nothing crazy as far as big pushes or anything goes, and just try to grow it a little bit incrementally over time. And then, yeah, we're five, five years in now, which is crazy, man.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. And how? How have you seen the beer we grow in the last five years? How, what's? Uh? From then to now, you've been involved with it since the beginning.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, yeah, okay, Uh, it's been really fun. Um, it's uh one of those kinds of things where, like the first year, um was kind of like smaller. You know, like, basically we just kind of built it as like a marketing platform and like, hey, if you guys are doing events and you want to be a part of it, you know we'll shoot it out there, we'll do that kind of stuff. You know, flyers, a little bit of advertising, things like this. You know, talking with people like yourselves and try to get the word out, um, and then, uh, you know, you'd get like a good amount of the breweries kind of pop in and do an event or two every now and then maybe some special releases. Um, and then the next year you started seeing accounts get on board, so like bottle shops, things like that. Third year you started seeing the distributors pay attention and then all of a sudden they're calling and they're asking how they can be more involved, cause obviously it's a mutually beneficial thing. You know they can kind of help push a little bit of their brands and like we can kind of help like facilitate some events and things like that.
Speaker 2:So, um, you know, by five years in man, it's uh, it's crazy. We, you know, we've got a pretty big marketing push on instagram, facebook, that kind of thing. Um, still really grassroots man, it's just five business owners kind of making it happen while we're still trying to run our breweries. Um, but yeah, the amount of like bottle shops and accounts that are getting on board it's spread outside of central Florida, which is amazing. Okay, we do like a really fun one like an Orlando beer week mega collaboration. So over the last three years at different breweries hosted that, we've got to pick a fun style, shoot it out into the market Like the week before, just kind of like celebrate, kicking everything off with that. So it's crazy, man, it's, it's the traction it's got, is is really man, it's, it's the traction it's got is really fulfilling.
Speaker 1:It's humbling to see, for sure. And so what? How are you feeling then about 2025? Now you know, from in year five, what's? What's the general feeling around Orlando about beer week? It seems like there's some buzz going already and we're what we're a week out now.
Speaker 2:Mm. Hmm, yeah, so it'll start on the 25th. Well, technically like 24th, we'll do like a big kickoff party at alucard, um, but yeah, for year five it's. Uh, it's really really cool, man.
Speaker 2:I think last year was the one where we really started to see it touching outside of, maybe like the beer center community. You know, okay, it was like you know anybody listening out there and if you've been to a bar or your burr or anything like that, like you know you've got your beer heads, they, they pay attention, they keep their ear to the ground. You know they're looking for the newest releases, they're looking for the newest events, those kind of things. But you know, we would start seeing people come in and you know these are just regulars that come into just tactical right, they're not like seeking out the the coolest and the most hip and all that kind of stuff and, uh, they would really like start paying attention to it. They're like, oh, what's this Orlando Beer Week thing we keep hearing about? And then now it's actually growing outside of just the beer community and I think a lot of people in Orlando as a whole are really starting to pay attention to it, which is really really cool.
Speaker 1:Okay, how far outside of Orlando and Central Florida, what are the kind of reaches of Orlando Beer Week?
Speaker 2:So basically, what we do as far as the committee goes is, like you know, we invite anybody within the, like, orange County area. It's not like a hard line thing. I mean, we, we all know like breweries that we're close with that are outside of that, and you know, like, if they want to be a part of it, we'll make something happen, that kind of thing. So it's not like a hard cut line kind of thing. Um, but uh, yeah, like pretty much, I want to say like 95 of breweries are on board in some way, whether they're part of the orlando mega collaboration, you know, whether they're doing their own special releases.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, this is kind of the the run-up week to where we start seeing a lot more of those social media and marketing kind of posts and stuff, where we start seeing like a lot of really cool fun events kind of popping up. Okay, and dude, I can tell you from being part of the committee and like trying to show up to as many events as I can. It's like, you know, two to three at night the whole week. Man, my poor liver is going to be singing that by sunday?
Speaker 1:yeah, because there's. There's what two or three different festivals in in there as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man um, so it's. There's been a couple that have kind of come and gone, um, but this year we've got some really exciting ones. So, like, uh, we've got like the kickoff week over at ala cart or the night I'm sorry over at ala cart. They basically, uh, all the breweries that are part of it will come in. We all hang out. You know, meet anybody who wants to chat about beer. Um, most of the time we're just kind of hanging out drinking some beers, catching up on things and, uh, al a la carte's amazing people and they bring in like a really fun lineup. You know they put a lot of time and dedication into making sure there's a really good diversity of different types of brands and different types of styles. Um, so that way, like, if you do want to see what Orlando is all about within one setting, it's a really cool place to go there.
Speaker 2:Um, another big one is Sideward Sabbath. Uh, they do like a fun metal show in their uh, their parking lot over there. Uh, just a bunch of like awesome food beers hanging out with people outside. Especially in the weather, it's going to be amazing. Um, and then ton of events throughout the week. You know we're getting more and more coming in. Um, I know we've got like a hangover brunch. Coming from Gravity Tap Room there's a ping pong tournament over at, uh, home State. Coming from Gravity Taproom there's a ping pong tournament over at Home State and selfishly, I have to tell everyone that you know we are doing a pretty big one at the end of the related beer week on the first called Faded Kingdom, which is a huge one for us. Man, I'm stoked about that one.
Speaker 1:And that's several years running on Faded Kingdom as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this will be our third year, second year, basically in our own location, and it's dude, it's wild. We built it in a fun way to where, like, if you want to be a part of the beer fest, you can be. If you want to come out for a block party element, you can do that too. So we've got like two streets sectioned off.
Speaker 2:We teamed up with the a bunch of food trucks in the area, a bunch of local vendors, the, uh, a bunch of food trucks in the area, a bunch of local vendors, um, and then for the beer scene, as far as the event goes, um, we invite all the orlando breweries out. You know, like, uh, make sure we don't leave them out, because that's what it's all built on, right? Yeah, uh, so have them come out, showcase whatever they want to showcase. Uh, take care of them, make sure they have a good time. Um, and then we invited out like 50 to 60 some odd breweries from around the US, canada, brazil, like tons of them, man, that, like you just don't see in the area, which is super fun.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, so it sounds like the elements of Beer Week. The anchors are in place and then you just kind of the inner space.
Speaker 2:It's interesting to see where that goes, because I mean from experience with Tampaa bay beer week, that's kind of how you know, filling in the bookends is where that that week gets so crazy yeah, and it just it's funny because, like, uh, tampa bay has always done a great job with that, with, like the um, you know, the, the brewers guild doing their thing, and then like the best florida beer and that whole aspect, and we had like hoonapoo and all those things going on, um, and then it just kind of naturally happened that way for us, man, like the same year that we started doing faded, we had a big festival that kicked off in the beginning, um, and then I think they're moving that around a little bit, but you know, sidewards, kind of taking the anchor on that as well. So it's uh, it's cool to have like that little sandwich of events, so that way you have one to kick off, one to end everything up, and it's uh, it works out great.
Speaker 1:It's like a little exclamation point on the other things yeah, yeah and that's and that way and it's in different parts and it kind of the natural, organic uh evolution is is interesting to see, uh, because I mean the first juniper day was on a friday evening in the back of the warehouse, you know, and then it evolved from there and so that's what a lot of these do and and it's nice to see Orlando, orlando getting there. What are how many events do you? Do you have a bead on exactly how many? Are we in the hundreds yet?
Speaker 2:I would say it's at least getting close to that. I mean, like the amount of times that so, luckily, one of our committee members is amazing at social and she handles a lot of stuff as far as, like you know, stories and tagging and those kind of things, and just going through the stories and the posts, man, there's got to be at least four to five new ones every couple hours that pop up. As far as just you know, smaller accounts, or you know fun bottle shops, or even like restaurants and stuff getting on board and trying to do like beer pairings and all that kind of thing, and it's uh, it's definitely one of those ones I would tell everyone kind of direct them over to either the Facebook or the Instagram for Orlando beer week. I've got to give it a better pulse. Um, there's just so many of them I like I, I feel bad if I just highlight this one or two.
Speaker 2:You know, uh, but yeah, there's, if I'll put it this way, if you're looking for something to do on a night that week, it's not, it's not our fault. Like you, you got to do the research. Man, there's, there's at least you know five to 10 different things going on every single night for sure.
Speaker 1:So OK, ok, and do you see an influx of for, for, faded and for the events? At least I know you could probably speak to what, what tactical sees? Do you see an influx of folks coming from out of the area, or do you? Do you see a bigger concentration of locals than you would on a regular night? What's the? What can someone expect in terms of crowds that that come in for those, those events?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting, man. I think what's cool is, like you know, for the events throughout the week, um, each of the individual places, the breweries, the accounts doing their thing, I think it like draws out, you know, maybe a lot of the people that wouldn't have gone out there on a Tuesday or a Thursday or something like that. Or, honestly, like you know, if you're a big beer fan of a certain brewery and you haven't checked out a certain place yet and you see a cool lineup, all of a sudden, you know they get a cool opportunity to get new people in and kind of showcase those kinds of things. Um, I think, oftentimes too, like for the breweries themselves, like getting really creative with their events, uh, like I know, sidewards, doing one like Lord of the wings, uh, which like I'm stoked about cause I'm a fat kid at heart and I can't wait to go eat a bunch of wings that night, uh, so, like you know, if, if it was a place that's on your radar that you haven't checked out yet, I think it incentivizes people to kind of go out there and do a little bit more as far as the events go.
Speaker 2:Man, it's dude, it's all walks of life. It's crazy, man, like I think, just because the magnitude of some of those bigger events like it really brings out people who are just looking for a fun time, a good time that kind of thing, to kind of, I don't know, maybe in dry January, kind of, you know, just get a good time, going as far as, like, breaking up the monotony of the average weekend, kind of thing. So, yeah, it's a good mix of people, man. You'll see a lot of regulars that you typically see and you'll see a lot of new faces. We get a lot of people traveling from hell outside of the state and stuff to come down to these things. It's cool.
Speaker 1:Cool, Cool, Cool. And so what? Can you talk a little bit about the Mega Collab and how, first of all how it came about and then where people can find it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure we. Um. So the first year we did it Sideward was kind of enough to host it, uh or no, I can't remember if it was Sideward or Crooked Can first, uh, sideward I believe. But uh, you know, the idea was like let's create something to kind of help kick off and, um, you know, basically like a little bit of an email chain through all the breweries, kind of get some ideas and things like that and then ultimately kind of land on a style for that year. Um, the first one was like a crusher lager kind of thing. Um, and then basically just send it out, work with the distributor, um, depending on who the distributor for the actual brewery is come up with a game plan, try to get it in the hands of like all the accounts and all that stuff. Uh, so that way, when you know beer week kicks off, you can pretty much find that beer just about anywhere.
Speaker 2:So this year was super fun, man, we did it was a hazy IPA, and then we did a little bit of like Florida honey to back, sweeten it, just kind of like a little fun little twist on that. And then Florida oranges as well. So just orange and honey, man, and basically we invite all the brewers out that day that we're brewing it. We invite all the brewers out that day that we're brewing it Usually a pretty good time, a lot of stories to be had, because I'm sure, as you know, beer starts flowing a little early those days. And then, yeah, man, just hang out, do that thing, and then we just got it packaged up last week, we're shipping it out. Should hit progressive as of Monday of next week, which I couldn't tell you the date on that, but yeah. So basically, if you're out there and you want to carry it or you want to get involved with it, man, progressive should have a bunch of cases, a bunch of slims next week to get rocking.
Speaker 1:So OK, and that'd be Monday. Monday, january 20th.
Speaker 2:Thank you for checking that date.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that Well, yeah, it'll take me, probably take me a couple of days to get this edited and published. So just to make sure, hopefully we'll be live that day at the latest. Oh yeah, cool Then, as an insider into Orlando Beer Week. What are the can't-miss events?
Speaker 2:Oh man. So and again, not to keep talking about this. Sabbath is great.
Speaker 1:Or if you can't nail down, if you don't want to show bias anywhere, where are you going?
Speaker 2:Oh, where am I going? So, first of all, alucard I love those guys. They're just amazing human beings. They're super cool because when we started this it's all like brewers and brewery owners that started the committee. They were one of the first accounts that maybe not necessarily a brewery themselves, but very supportive of the committee uh, they were one of the first like accounts that you know, maybe not necessarily a brewery themselves, but very supportive of the industry that reached out like what can we do? And so, like every year, they've been kind of an anchor point kind of thing.
Speaker 2:As far as a good kickoff party goes, uh, definitely go check that one out. Um, like I said, sabbath is a great time. Uh, I'll be out there slinging some ping pong over at a home state on that Tuesday. You can watch me get my ass kicked at ping pong. I'm terrible at it. And then, honestly, we're still waiting on a couple of big ones to flood in. But follow it up to that man. I would just check in with a lot of your bottle shops, dude.
Speaker 2:So another big thing that happens with these things, especially when we do a big event like Faded, is you'll get a lot of these really sought after breweries, right, and so they're kind enough to send us beer, but we're not the only ones that can send beer to.
Speaker 2:So they're going to have people down here, they're going to have representatives, you're going to have the brewers down here, and so you know, like, let's say, you love 450 North. Let's say you love I don't know Zool, you love any of these awesome breweries that are going to be coming down for this. Odds are they've got like four or five events planned throughout the area leading up to that. You know, because, like, they're going to be down here anyway, might as well, like, make a splash, you know, yeah. So like I would say, you know, if you're, if you've got a favorite spot, I would look out for their social and that kind of stuff and see what it is they're doing, because odds are they're going to have some killer lineups that week because they really really send down some of the best of the best that they're making for sure.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Are there any under-the-radar events that don't get as much publicity as maybe they should and you want to shout them out here, ooh.
Speaker 2:So, selfishly, I will say, on the Sunday, uh, at the end of the week we do one called loggers I um, which is basically we just fill all of our draft lines with loggers from the breweries we like. Uh, and it's very selfish, not only for me to promote it, since I'm involved, but also because I just really want to drink a lager at the end of that week and it's like the best of the best that you're going to find in that area. Again, huge shout out to Alucard. You know they got a ton of like. They've got like Ahab's Revenge coming up, like all the whales of the Stouts and those kind of things going out. There's just, there's just so many of them.
Speaker 2:Then I know, like, was it Suds out? In Claremont they're going to be doing some really fun stuff with raw and beer zombies, which I mean. You know Claremont, you know you don't really think of it as a big beer scene. So the fact that they're like pulling in some really fun brands like that and being able to showcase some stuff is super cool. Yeah, I would say those are some pretty good ones to start out with at least. Yeah, and then, honestly to me, and by the time this comes out. I would, you know, encourage everyone to check again, because I know everyone typically waits, like the last week, to really start flooding in some of those events.
Speaker 1:So you mean to say the brewers procrastinate? I don't know.
Speaker 2:If it's that we procrastinate, it's just that we forget to do them because of all the other stuff we got to do. You know, yeah, yeah, no, that's, that's fair. I mean, the brewers do have. You know, you wear a lot of hats in the beer industry, and it's certainly understandable. So is there anywhere that folks can check out everything that's going on? Is there a master calendar or a big event? That we get tagged in Facebook is a cool one too, because one of the big marketing pushes we do is we allow everyone to kind of submit their events and we throw it on the calendar for that page specifically. So there's basically kind of a master calendar on that as far as what everyone submitted so far. Okay, that's a really good option to go down to.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so that's a really good option to go down to. So OK, and then is there any. Do you have any advice for new people, new to Orlando? Beer in the Orlando Beer Week?
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, oh dude, what would I tell somebody getting into Orlando Beer Week? Try new stuff, try new things. You know what I mean. Like, get out there, support things, make the drive.
Speaker 2:You know, uh, one of those kind of like I'm sure we all have a few breweries that are within it's. It's pretty easy to get there, but we tell ourselves it's too far away, kind of thing. You know, uh, like, go check them out, man, um, get involved, uh, and then I would honestly say, well, obviously, be safe, uber, if you can, um, but um, take advantage of it. Man, like this is, you know, depending on the place, the account, the brewery, like you know, they're really putting their best, of their best this week. You know, they're kind of showing off, you know, collaborations or special to releases or really fun events that you're just not going to find. If you're looking for something to do two months from now, you, you know, so it's a good way to fill up your calendar. And, like I said earlier, man, if you can't find something, it's kind of on you because, like everyone's, really they push it pretty cool this week, for sure.
Speaker 1:Awesome, Awesome. Well, I want to be respectful of your time and I don't want to take too much of it, but I like to end every interview with six quick questions and a six pack. So your game. I've got some kind of lightning round type questions. Let's do this, Okay. So first question what's your current favorite beer?
Speaker 2:Current favorite beer. Ooh, there's a place up the road that's got some beer shot on draft. Always loving that one. Usually I kind of bounce back and forth between like loggers and hazies, uh, but anybody anybody coming out with a solid west coast ipa right now is right up my alley too. So, uh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, if you could only brew one style, what would it be?
Speaker 2:Lagers, lagers for life.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Hands down. They're just so much fun, man, I don't know, it's a lot of finesse for very little payoff in the eyes of a lot of people. You know what I mean, but it's a super fun time.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you one of the beers that I had recently Lagers finally having its moment. Thank goodness I know I'm. Lager's finally having its moment, thank goodness it's been coming for a long time. Dade City Brewhouse makes a beer called parking lot beers and it's a Canadian style lager and it's just, I think it's a. I want to say it's like a Molson yeast they're using or something like that. Don't quote me on that.
Speaker 1:So, ryan, if you're listening, but it's like a Molson yeast they're using or something like that. Don't quote me on that. So, ryan, if you're listening, um, but it's, it's just so crushable, like it's it's a good football beer or a good sports beer, because by the time I know it, like I just go and get one and it's it just goes down so easy, but it's got that little bit of fruit on the end. That's that's almost like ripe apple or um, just just that subtle bit that makes it a little bit different. You know, like Mexican, kind of like Mexican lagers do with what the yeast does, and it's just. It's weird how it is, but that was mine where, like, okay, lagers are all the lagers, just all the lagers, and we're West Coast, we're hopping them like IPAs, like anything we can do. Let's make them, let's bring them to the masses.
Speaker 2:Dude 100%, because because I mean, like there's there's so much room to play around there. You know, like we'll do super traditional style lagers uh, we've done. We just got a fooder installed that we're only going to be doing lagers in, so like traditional style on that, but then you can also mess around with them too. Man, like we've done a lot of barrel age lagers uh, we've done. Uh, like we just recently did a white oak, my, which is like one of my favorite beers we've ever made hands down. And then on draft we've got a black lager that we age on oyster shells as a collaboration from the oyster bar across the street. And so like you can still play around with a man, you can get weird with it and still have that drink ability factor, but still, like you know, have some sort of fun kind of new creative things going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that leads to the next question, which is what's the last beer you had that changed your mind?
Speaker 2:Ooh damn, that's a good one. Um, you know, I'll give a give, a shout out to Rock Pit actually. Um, they, uh, they do a spruce tip pale ale for the winter season and like I love pale ales, I love spruce tips, so I'm pretty biased on it too. But I was like all right, you know, you see something like that. You're like I wonder if this is going to work. Yeah, yeah, and dude nailed it Out of the park.
Speaker 1:Man, it was solid For sure, okay, okay, nailed it out of the park, man, it was solid for sure, okay, that's one of those ingredients that can kind of go either way so that's, that's good to hear.
Speaker 2:Oh no, because I've had some that just tastes like straight up pine salt and uh and like yeah, no they, they hit the mark for sure good, good, good, all right, uh, next question when it comes to beer, what do you wish?
Speaker 1:you really understood?
Speaker 2:oh god, uh, how to brew it better. Um, no, I think it's uh one of those things, man, where, like, I guess, uh, when it comes to beer, I wish I understood kind of how to, like, I guess, appease the masses, right, it's one of those things where you can make some styles and everyone loves it and other people hate it and like it's. There's very rarely a uniform, kind of like conjecture on it. But I will say, like you know, we try to focus on making sure we have something for everybody. So, you know, like, even if you're not like that Black Lager fan, you may try to. You might hate it, that's fine, but we know that the people coming in looking for something like that will love it right. Coming in looking for something like that will love it right.
Speaker 2:Um, but I think, uh, you know, just kind of trying to understand, like honestly, maybe too, where the industry's going. You know, like, what's that new style coming up? What's, uh, you know what are people going to be looking for in the next year or two? Um, you know, kind of trying to keep an ear to the ground because, uh, I think it's becoming you know we chat a little bit earlier like I think it's becoming. You can't really get away with being reactive anymore, um, and I think you kind of have to be a little bit more on the ball when it comes to expecting what or seeing what people expect and kind of making sure that you have that on hand for them, if that makes any sense yeah, yeah, I mean, look at the, the brute ipa trend that came and went, you know, like that was out in the season and then everybody thought hazies were going to be that way too, and then Hazy's have stuck around for a good long time.
Speaker 1:So how do you know? You know it's it's interesting question of how do you know what trend that you need to lock onto and other I mean Brute IPAs came along and everybody had made Sierra New Belgium, like all this national distribution of this style, and then all of a sudden it was gone, like overnight.
Speaker 2:Oh and oh. And what's funny too is, uh, I thought about that one. I thought like a really interesting perspective on that too is, like you know, you have the hazy come out and, like you said, you've been around for a while too, like when you wouldn't, you tried this hazy that you kept hearing about right, like you'd never had one before, and all of a sudden a few breweries around you would start doing it and they were all kind of wildly different, right. So like they were all kind of taking their own spin on what they had kind of heard about it and I guess we all kind of eventually, over the last 10 years, came to this uniform idea of what it should be, almost to the point where it's like an actual, just standard IPA now, which is crazy to me.
Speaker 2:But, like you know, when you looked at brewed IPA, I remember that being kind of the same thing. Like you would go to all these different breweries and they would all taste wildly different, right. So I wonder if it was one of those kind of aspects where, like you know, no one was really doing anything consistently. They were all putting a very creative in their own unique spin on it to where it never really gained traction, um, but also, too, I think everyone was just kind of really trying to force the next hazy ipa, yeah, you know like yeah, yeah, because everyone was losing their minds over hazy and they're like, oh, we, we gotta do something different. And brew was cool, don't get me wrong, brew was great, uh, but like I don't exactly miss it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well, and people weren't exactly belling up to the bar, you know, looking for it as a style, saying that I had a great one somewhere, and then can you do the same thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:We tried it. We tried a few of them and they were fun to make, man, I really enjoyed them. But yeah, they just, you know that one just kind of came and went, kind of like the cold IPA, kind of like the. You know, it's like some of these other styles and I don't know. So yeah, to answer your original question, I would love to know what the next thing to come out is.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying? Yeah, absolutely, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Next question then Um what do you wish people knew about Orlando beer week? Oh man, um, it's a labor of love, man. Uh, you know, in Orlando and I'm sure in a lot of other places, uh, I got to give credit to, you know, beer fests over the last 20 years. They really helped open the eyes to a lot of people. They really helped get a lot of people into drinking craft beer. But you know, how many times have you been to a beer fest where it's, you know, like everything you can just find on a public shelf right, which is great and that's fine. They should be perpetuated too, absolutely. But I think it really kind of helps give a chance to the little guys, the more independent local craft breweries and things like that, to be able to showcase what they're doing, cause, you know, they don't have to worry about donating their product, donating their time to get out there and actually show face and do that and also to, like you know, like the committee I don't say this to pat ourselves on the back or sound conceited in any way, shape or form, but like we're brewery owners who, you know, like we, we grew up in this industry in this town, right, like, collectively, there's over 50 years of experience in Orlando beer scene, right.
Speaker 2:So you know, like we we wanted to do this, we wanted to see this happen. We were kind of tired of seeing iteration after iteration of Orlando Beer Week come and go, and so we really wanted to try to set some roots on something that could grow and something that could, like, really showcase what it is Orlando is all about. And I think you know we may not have achieved, you know, what everyone may see as the pinnacle of success no-transcript really appreciate that. Um, so I would say, like you know, this is a labor of love for, uh, for the people in the industry to really kind of show what they're, what they're proud of, you know.
Speaker 1:Very, very cool, very cool.
Speaker 2:Then last question what's the greatest lesson you've learned in beer? Be flexible, be flexible. And complacency kills, at least in you know, I've done sales, distribution, production I mean, now I'm helping run a brewery as well. So, like it's one of those kinds of things where, like you've, every day is different and, like I said, complacency kills man. And, and you know we've all seen.
Speaker 2:You know, brands come and go, which is really unfortunate, but like you got to adapt with the times. You got to, like, push the boundaries. You got to make sure you're trying to offer the coolest and the funnest and the new exciting, while still maintaining that traditional and having something for the guy who just wants to pay seven bucks for beer. Not think about it, you know, um, so, and then also to, uh, you know, just just being a good person, help her, get out of the way. You know, like, you know we're, you know we we've all said this a billion times like we're all in this together, um, you know, like, if, if you have nothing to offer, get out of the way, man, let them, let them do their thing. But if you can help, always help.
Speaker 2:Uh, we only do well if everyone else is doing well. Right, because I'm sure everyone's heard nowadays with the narrative of just like crap, beers are going down and blah, blah, blah and like all that kind of stuff too, and, um, you know, I I don't see it, at least in our area. Man, we're very fortunate. A lot of like people are really geeked out, really excited, um, and so I think all of us doing the best we can to rise each other up is pretty cool. So awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a great way. That's a. That's a great way to sign off, chris. Thank you very much. Yeah, orlando beer week coming uh january 25th to february 1st. Uh look and check orlando beer week out on instagram and facebook for more information. Thank you very much for your time.
Speaker 1:Good talking to you, chris oh yeah, man, thanks for having me, I appreciate it that was my conversation with chris holland, co-founder of tactical brewing company, about orlando beer week. If you're in orlando during the last week of January 2025, make sure to check out all the events they have going on for Orlando Beer Week, including the Fated Kingdom Beer Festival, sideward Sabbath and many, many others. My thanks to Chris for taking the time to sit down and talk. Are there any guests you'd like to see on the show? Reach out I'm on social media at FLBeerNews, or mark at floridabeernewscom and let me know what's going on in your world beer-wise. Please remember to like, subscribe and follow beer-wise on your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss an episode. Also, please remember to review the show on your favorite podcast platform and help us reach new audiences.
Speaker 1:Florida Beer News and the podcast are now on Patreon. I'm working on fundraising efforts for the website and podcast and hope of making some updates and changes. Check out patreoncom slash floridabeernews, spelled out for information on how you and your business can help fuel our growth and get some cool rewards. That's all for now. I'll be back next time to talk about what's going on in the world beer wise. Cheers and happy Orlando Beer Week.
